1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a printing control program for controlling printing of document data on a web server unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
When document data stored in a web server unit is to be printed by a printer connected to a client unit, it is conventional to hold the document data on the web server unit as a page to be viewed, which is in the format of, e.g., HTML, and which is capable of being downloaded, to access the web server unit from a browser in the client unit for displaying the viewed page, and to issue an instruction to download the document data to be printed from the viewed page so that the document data is downloaded to the client unit. Then, a dedicated application capable of processing the document data is run in response to a user instruction and the document data is printed by utilizing a printing function provided in the dedicated application.
Also, a sheet size, such as a business-card size, not supported by general printers is handled as a user-defined sheet size. In that case, business cards are printed one by one, and therefore it takes a long time to complete the printing process. The time required for the printing process can be cut down by arranging 10 business cards on an A4-sized sheet and then printing it. This solution, however, requires document data to be created such that 10 business cards are arranged on an A4-sized sheet. In other words, rearranging the downloaded document data to array 10 business cards on an A4-sized sheet with the dedicated application imposes on users a load comparable to that required for creating new document data from the beginning, which is inconvenient. An alternative solution is to prepare the document data corresponding to 10 business cards in the web server unit. However, preparing the document data corresponding to various layouts in the web server unit is disadvantageous in that the memory efficiency is reduced and the burden imposed on a supervisor, such as maintenance supervisor of the web server unit, is increased.
In conventional systems, unless an application capable of processing document data stored in a web server unit is installed in a client unit, the document data stored in the web server unit cannot be printed by a printer connected to the client unit.
Also, when the client unit is connected to the Internet via a low-rate connection means, such as a dialup connection through a modem, a problem arises in that a long time is taken for the download process (hereinafter referred to also as a “transfer”) in which the size of the document data to be downloaded is large, and if the transfer is interrupted, the transfer must be performed again from the start. Although there is a file transfer application for enabling the transfer to be interrupted and resumed, users must purchase and install such an application by themselves, which is troublesome.
Further, in the case of printing wherein one type of document data is arranged in plural, as with the printing of business cards, if print target data comprising an array of plural sets of document data is prepared in the web server unit, the amount of print target data to be downloaded is increased and a long time is taken for the data transfer. Another problem is that conventional processes do not deal with changing a print layout, so another document data must be downloaded again which is inconvenience.